When the seven most powerful heads of state meet at the G-7 Summit in Koln,
Germany this June 18-20, there should be plenty for them to talk about.
Like the trillions of dollars a day in foreign exchange transactions that
have turned the global economy into an ungoverned casino which may fail
anyday. Like the rising global temperatures, ozone depletion and extreme
weather phenomena that suggest a major climate change is underway. Like the
document signed by 1,500 scientists (including half of all living Nobel
prize winners) warning that humankind is proceeding down an unprecedented
and catastrophic path by destroying the life-support systems of the planet.
Oddly, these issues hardly ever come up at the Summit.
This year, culture jammers will make sure they do. On posters, T-shirts and
billboards, in newspapers, radio and TV spots, we will dare our leaders to
confront The Big Question: Is economic "progress" killing the planet? Those
six words will blaze in the public imagination. Ordinary citizens will
think
about them. Policy makers will debate them. Students will confront teachers
with them.
Then, at the closing press conference in Koln on June 20, before a
worldwide
TV audience of millions, a reporter will stand up and say: "Mr. President,
how
do you measure economic progress? How do you determine if the economy is
healthy or sick?"
Clinton will probably skate. He'll formulate some answer about how America
has a pretty good report card, what with rising GDP and the bull run on
Wall Street. He'll try to move on. But a few reporters will demand a better
answer - a real answer. Should we consider the Exxon Valdez spill a
"success" since it boosted GDP? What other measures of progress besides the
GDP are being used? How are losses of natural capital like the disappearing
salmon fisheries of the Pacific Northwest being factored into the national
accounts? Are the costs of climate change being considered? What about
ozone depletion? Desertification? Biodiversity loss?
A point will be reached, either right there at the G-7 press conference, or
at some future press conference, when it dawns on the world that these
seven men can't be trusted with the farm. They don't know the answer to the
simplest and most fundamental of all questions about the economic system
they manage: Are we moving forward or backward?
And so it begins. Over the next few months, we will undertake to catalyze a
millennial moment of truth - a mindshift from economics to bioeconomics -
from which old-guard thinking will never fully recover.
Join us by asking The Big Question wherever you go.
http://www.adbusters.org
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Laszlo Pinter
Program Officer
Measurement and Indicators Program
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
6th Floor, 161 Portage Avenue East
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0Y4 CANADA
Tel: (204) 958-7715
Fax: (204) 958-7710
Email: http://iisd.ca